Episode 555 – How Blues Traveler Became a Music Industry Giant | Chan Kinchla

In this week’s episode, I sit down with Chandler Kinchla (commonly known as Chan), the guitar player for Blues Traveler and his new band W4RHORS3.

Born in Ontario, Canada, Chan moved to Princeton, NJ where he met his Blues Traveler bandmates. After graduating high school, the band moved to New York City where they gigged around town until they secured a record deal.

After they were signed, a bartender at one of the places they played at introduced the band to David Letterman. The band played his late night show many times over the years, which helped put them at the top of the music world.

The band has then gone on to record 15 studio albums that have sold over 10 million copies, and played over 2,000 shows in front of more than 30 million people.

In this episode, Chan and I talked about the “majesty of New Jersey,” what it’s like to play 300 dates a year in New York City clubs, the reasons for creating the H.O.R.D.E. tour, playing dates with W4RHORS3, and so much more.

Are you ready to meet this legend?

Then tune in now!

Key Takeaways:

Introduction (00:00)

From Canada to New Jersey (01:59)

How Blues Traveler broke through (06:23)

Blues Traveler’s history with David Letterman (16:35)

Let’s talk about the H.O.R.D.E tour (18:15)

Chan’s work as a solo artist (20:33)

Last question for Chan (29:11)

Additional Resources:

Follow Chan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chankinchla/ and https://www.instagram.com/the_chan_gang/ 

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